{"id":267885,"date":"2026-08-19T02:04:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T02:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267885\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T02:04:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T02:04:29","slug":"berks-community-health-center-announces-planned-merger-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267885\/","title":{"rendered":"Berks Community Health Center announces planned merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Berks Community Health Center<\/a> is planning to team up with another regional health provider.<\/p>\n

Officials from BCHC have announced the health center is merging with Lancaster-based Union Community Care<\/a>. The merger is pending regulatory review and approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision reflects careful planning for the future of community health care in Berks County,\u201d said Dr. D. Michael Baxter, chair of the BCHC board of directors. \u201cBCHC approached Union Community Care because we saw an organization that shares our mission, respects the relationships we have built and understands the value of locally informed care.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a thorough review, we believe joining together gives both organizations an opportunity to learn from one another and build an even stronger foundation for the communities we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missy Orlando, vice chair of the BCHC board of directors, said there are two factors that led to the decision to merge, both financial.<\/p>\n

Orlando said that, starting in January, federal funding for Medicaid will dramatically drop. That will likely lead to about 100,000 people in Berks County losing their benefits.<\/p>\n

\"BerksBerks Community Health Center in the 800 block of Penn Street. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

Because of that, health care providers like BCHC will find themselves without that steady revenue stream, Orlando said.<\/p>\n

That will come as BCHC continues to battle existing financial challenges, Orlando added. She said that over the past year the health center has been struggling to collect payments from patients and with losing a handful of providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we made the tough decision, the fiduciary decision, to look for another partner to strengthen our position,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that will ensure that Berks County residents have access to quality health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

That led BCHC to Union Community Care, which operates 25 health care locations in Lancaster, Lebanon and Chester counties. Union Community Care provides family medical care, urgent care, dental care, school-based health care, behavioral health, social support services and pharmacy services to anyone who needs it, with or without insurance.<\/p>\n

Officials from BCHC said the organization completed an extensive due diligence process, evaluating UCC\u2019s financial performance, clinical operations, governance, organizational culture and strategic alignment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat work confirmed a strong shared mission as well as complementary experience and capabilities,\u201d a statement announcing the merger read.<\/p>\n

The proposed partnership would bring together BCHC\u2019s local relationships and knowledge of the Berks community with Union Community Care\u2019s regional experience and operational infrastructure, officials said.<\/p>\n

Leaders from the organizations said they will approach integration carefully, with opportunities to share expertise, strengthen systems, support employees and plan for future community health needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBCHC invited us to explore this opportunity, and we approached that invitation with respect for what its employees, clinicians and community partners have built,\u201d said Alisa Jones, president and chief executive officer of UCC. \u201cOur organizations share a belief that care should remain accessible, local and shaped by the communities we serve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proposed merger is an opportunity to bring our strengths together while continuing to listen, learn and plan responsibly for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando said BCHC patients will not see changes in their care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will still see the same providers, the same team, the same staff,\u201d she said. \u201cThis will just allow us to look at what Union has done successfully and what we\u2019ve done successfully and combine the best of both organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patients will even see the same branding, with BCHC keeping its name \u2014 with the small addition of \u201cpowered by Union Community Care\u201d tagged on.<\/p>\n

The proposed merger remains subject to customary regulatory approvals. Officials from the organizations said integration planning is underway, and both organizations are committed to keeping employees, patients and community partners informed throughout the transition.<\/p>\n

The news of the merger comes on the heals of an announcement by BHCH that founder and longtime president and CEO Mary Kargbo is retiring after leading the organization for the past 14 years.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kargbo will remain with BCH through Sept. 12, and is working closely with leadership at UCC to help ease the merger process, Orlando said.<\/p>\n

Berks Community Health Center was established in 2012 as a freestanding, non-profit federally-qualified health center. It offers comprehensive primary, preventive and specialty health care services to all residents, regardless of their economic status or ability to pay.<\/p>\n

The health center operates multiple brick-and-mortar locations in Reading, a mobile medical unit and a patient-centered medical home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berks Community Health Center is planning to team up with another regional health provider. Officials from BCHC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,1057,182,139,28,128,130,129,3801],"class_list":["post-267885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-health","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-dln"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}